Kaila Mellos is one awesome teenager. As a child, she was diagnosed with chronic recurrent multifocal osteomyelitis (CRMO), an extremely rare and painful autoinflammatory bone disease that often coincides with other secondary diseases such as arthritis and Crohn’s. For her Girl Scout Silver Award Project, Kaila sent personalized care packages to children and adults around the world who had been recently diagnosed with CRMO. Once the project was complete, Kaila decided to continue her newfound passion by founding Kaila’s Komfort. Since then, Kaila has not only helped more than 100 people around the world, but she’s also the recipient of December’s Los Angeles Awesome Foundation award!

Kaila asks each care package recipient to fill out a survey to learn about the things they like. She then creates a custom package based on the recipient’s interests and type of treatment they are receiving. The gift baskets are filled with items like CRMO Awareness T-shirts, books and magazines, gift cards for iTunes or Amazon, coloring books and crayons, and often, a special pain relief device called “Buzzy.” Kaila says about her work, ““I hope to continue to be able to make a difference in the lives of CRMO patients by providing comfort with items that will help relieve pain, provide distractions during medical treatments, help make treatment easier and less painful, and also let them know they are not alone.”

The Los Angeles chapter of the Awesome Foundation is proud to support Kaila’s awesome work! For more information, visit kailaskomfort.org or check her out on Facebook.